Saturday, April 15, 2017

On the closure of RMFC and the rise of the Alt-Furry

Recent events which have unfolded within the furry fandom have
generated renewed media interest in our community smacking of sensationalist
headlines from news outlets such as The Daily Beast claiming “Neo-Nazi’s are tearing the furry world apart” and The dailymail.co.uk with its cringe inducing
headline: “The furred Reich: Furry annual convention cancelled amid community’s bitter divisions over rise of alleged neo-Nazi ‘Mr Foxler’ and the ‘Altfur’ movement”. Even Rolling Stone picked up on the fur-flying
drama with its own hot take: “Does the furry community have a Nazi problem?” Of
course, the news media never picks up on stories about how much money furries
have donated to charitable causes like veterans associations and animal welfare
organizations. Let’s completely ignore the sheer amount of revenue our tourism
has brought to major cities that have played host to our conventions when they
are in full swing, not to mention the unbridled happiness we bring unto others with
our jovial antics, but I digress. Such stories would never earn enough views
for these sites because they’re examples of feel-good drivel that most people
only pretend to want; they aren’t the juicy, misinformed click-bait articles
that the mainstream press and its rabid audience of normies so desperately craves.
The aftermath of this latest debacle has resulted in the closure of a
significant furry convention which was held yearly in Denver CO and has shaken
the furry community to its core. The RMFC (Rocky Mountain Fur-Con) fiasco is
our latest example of an intra-community schism that had developed largely on social
media platforms (Primarily twitter) and telegram chat rooms before
metastasizing like a cancer into the real world and having very real
consequences once the authorities got involved.

By now, most of you reading this article know the gist of
the story: Back in January of this year, an attention seeking communist
sympathizer named @DeoTasDevil made violent threats (Which were investigated by
the authorities and deemed credible) on twitter about punching “Nazis” that was
then countered by one “@Oliviameles” who responded with an ambiguous comment
along the lines of watching someone shoot Deo in self-defense if they were to
be punched. Subsequently, Deo was rightfully banned from attending RMFC by one
of its staff members for having made this threat to punch ‘Nazi’s’ along with reasoning
that claimed that the threat qualified as an “Incite to riot”. However, the ban
notice was delivered in a very unprofessional matter. Seeking no legal
consultation and drafting a ‘cease and desist’ letter signed in red-ink with a red
thumb-print suggesting sovereign citizenship, a man who staffed RMFC, one
“Kendal Ray Emery”, who goes by the furry name ‘Kahuki’ decided it was a good
idea to mail this mockery of a ‘C&D’ letter to Deo’s place of residence using
vaguely worded, intimidating quasi law-speak. It didn’t help matters that he
(Kahuki) also has a criminal record as an underage sex offender and regardless
of whether or not that fact has anything to do with the situation at hand,
RMFC’s con chair and board of directors should have thought twice about keeping
this man on staff to save face for the sake of maintaining its public image…or
whatever it had left of one. These are furries we are talking about, after all.
There were also allegations that RMFC continued to operate as a non-profit
organization even after its permit to do so had long since expired; the
allegation continues that the RMFC board of directors took advantage of this
tax-exempt status and continued to operate as a non-profit for the purposes of
tax evasion. RMFC will be remembered as a poorly managed convention that
succumbed to a litany of bad press and mounting legal issues which were
directly tied in to its rising security costs in excess of $20,000 as a result
of these twitter threats which the authorities deemed enough of a valid concern
as to provide a security detail that RMFC was unable to afford. Soon afterward
on April 10th 2017, RMFC announced its closure in a press release on
its main website.

The fact of the matter is that the entire debacle is a
dumpster-fire on both sides and nearly everyone involved is at fault. There is
next to nothing in terms of integrity worth salvaging when it comes to RMFC and
how its board members handled this incident, let alone how they ran the con into
the ground in recent years.It’s worth
noting that this was a convention that nearly collapsed in on itself back in
2009 due to its inability to meet room-block requirements before it was bailed
out only through the grace of its supporters and staff in the form of large
donations that kept it going for as many years as it did.

Enter “Foxler” and the “Furry Raiders”

So along comes a man dressed in a Fursuit that many choose to
perceive as sporting a “Nazi Uniform”. His name is ‘Foxler’ and his foxy fursona
is complete with a black paw-print logo stitched onto an armband with a red and
white background that loosely resembles a “Nazi Armband” (Which makes for great
sensationalist media fodder) causing many Antifa (Anti-fascists) within the
furry community to lose their collective shit, taking it upon themselves to harass
and attack him based solely on his provocative getup. In 2016, Foxler, who
is also the de-facto leader of the ‘Furry Raiders’, overbooked 20 room
reservations at the CrownePlaza Denver airport
which hosted the final RMFC. He was then accused by some members of the furry
community of buying up these room blocks in order to scalp them and leverage
control over attendees. There was an outcry within the community that desperately
tried to label this action as a ‘putsch’. As ‘2 The Ranting Griffin’ pointed
out last year, the Furry raiders appropriately handled the situation by calling
the hotel and cancelling the room reservations due to the overbooking mistake.
This caused a great furor in the community, with many claiming that the ‘Furry
Raiders’ were a ‘Neo Nazi’ group.

There are many people within the furry community who accuse Foxler,
(whose last name is “Miller”) of having a fursona
that is supportive of, and synonymous with, Adolf Hitler. Yet Foxler has
openly claimed that he is not a Nazi and in no way supports Hitler, rather, insisting
that his name is a combination of ‘Fox’ and his last name ‘Miller.’ It is worth
noting that Foxler was rejected in the past by actual neo-Nazi’s for being both gay and a furry. The furry raiders
also sell rainbow armbands which RMFC had banned the previous year. Yes, that’s
right. The furry raiders wear rainbow variations of Foxler’s iconic armband that
look vaguely similar to a Nazi
armband. What could possibly be more terrifying? Social justice snowflakes
apparently feel so gravely threatened by this iconography that they’ve lost their
minds and went on a limb to target him and anyone else they see as remotely “toxic”,
especially those daring enough to artistically express themselves or are beholden
to right-wing views. This is not the
first time a schism of this magnitude has occurred within the furry community.
The current state of the furry fandom does draw very similar parallels to the
‘Burned Furs’ debacle of 1998-2001 that tore the fandom apart and resulted in a
very embarrassing media frenzy. For anyone unfamiliar with this event, consult
the following article.

RMFC foundered because it was a weak and poorly managed
convention, but the question we must also ask ourselves is if it is acceptable
for radicalized attention seeking individuals to continue to commit libel
against others and then threaten to assault them based solely on how they dress
or choose to represent themselves? Or perhaps, because their political views are
right of center and they are apparently, you know, “ACTUAL NAZI’S”?

The obvious answer is of
course not.

Is it healthy for our community to vent this way until the
hysteria inevitably burns itself out?

Only time will tell.

Allegations of ‘Neo Nazism’ proliferating in the furry
fandom are little more than a distraction from the core issues we are facing
and a convenient smoke screen for authoritarian leftists to hide behind. The
problem was never ‘Nazi’s in the fandom’, but SJW’s labeling others as “Nazi’s”
with impunity. Make no mistake: The heart of the matter is ultimately one of deeply
rooted social and political differences manifesting themselves. The symptomatic
issues we are now experiencing in the furry community is indicative of a far
larger cultural shift occurring worldwide, notably, a reaction to the rise of
populism, conservatism and a nationalist surge that continues to gain momentum.
In truth, the furry fandom is embattled by the same social and political challenges
that affect any large community that has managed to attain a worldwide reach.
It just so happens that this occurs in the furry fandom on a much smaller scale.
Even as the witch-hunt of ‘Neo Nazi’s in the community turns out to be a red
herring, the allegations of tax evasion concerning RMFC may in time prove far
more credible.

As one of the early adopters of the ‘Alt-furry’ movement shortly
after it formed in November 2016, I can attest to its rise to prominence within
the furry community firsthand. A certain ‘Pooka’ going by the name“@TheQuQu”
built up a support base using the #Altfurry hashtag on twitter, soon becoming
the main press contact associated with the movement after releasing a series of YouTube videos, eventually
culminating an interview that legitimate news websites picked up on, which is linked in the following article. Altfurry’s “@Azu_Rayn” also had a major role in
proliferating the message of altfurry on social media and producing these
videos which many in the furry community at first saw as a joke, but alarmed
the leftist opposition when it began to gain traction. One thing still remains
very clear and that is just how many people, even within the furry community at
large, fail to grasp the sheer irony involved with altfurry as it began primarily as a reactionary movement whose
purpose was to mock the extreme far left elements that had cropped up in the
fandom in recent years. SJW’s, BLM sympathizers, punks, anarcho-communists and
the like began whining louder than ever before following Trump’s victory on
November 9th 2016. In the wake of Trump’s inauguration and the
Berkley riots earlier this year, these fanatical leftists began demanding
concessions that spilled over into the furry community. The more virulent among
them began using passive-aggressive tactics to insult and shun anyone who
didn’t adhere to their worldview. Some artists and small businesses have openly
stated that they will not produce work for Trump supporters and while they are
perfectly within their legal right to do just that, their actions still represent
an unfortunate byproduct of just how extensively poisonous a small but vocal
band of SJW’s have soured the well for everyone involved. They are oblivious to
the atmosphere of hypocrisy they have created, preaching the message of a
tolerant and open furry community while ostracizing those they disagree with in
a bid to control furry-run events and public spaces (conventions) all part of
the greater culture war being waged in modern America.

No, not all ‘alt-furry’s support president Trump, though
many do. However, from what I’ve seen, most have a tendency toward varying
degrees of conservatism in their political stances and uphold the core tenets
of many right-leaning views. Some still maintain support for Rand Paul or Ted
Cruz, while many others simply do not care one iota when it comes to the American
political landscape, partaking in the altfurry shenanigans for reasons all
their own. It is said that the opposition to altfurry necessitates the need for
altfurry, and this proclamation thus became our iconic rallying cry:

“This is
why we need Altfurry.”

Ideally, politics should really have little to no place in
the furry fandom, but, by that same token, being a furry means unabashedly being
yourself and staying true to who you are. Whether or not others agree with
those political sentiments does nothing to hinder how we choose to voice them.
Self-actualization encompasses our right to form our own political opinion
without reprisal. Speaking personally, my ethics, convictions and values are an
integral part of my identity and since ‘Furry’ is a vehicle for self-expression;
they both come part and parcel of what defines me as much as it does for anyone
else. In right-wing furry circles there is a strong undercurrent that promotes
the embracing of American values, patriotism, capitalism, traditional American
culture as well as European history and culture in the Anglo-sphere. In large
part, there is a repudiation of political Islamism which is seen as a foreign
threat that is incompatible with our way of life. There is a prevailing sense
of nationalism, but also a rejection of the ‘old guard’ Republican values with
its bible-thumping evangelical religious zealotry, bigotry and prudishness. Hence,
the ‘alt’ right began in large part by the youth (Gen X and Millennials) as an alternative
to the stale conservatism of the past before being co-opted. “Altfurry” has
thus become something of a furry analogue to GamerGate and “Frog-Twitter”.Many in the rank of Altfurry are strongly pro
LGBT, while others are generally tolerant of, or at most, indifferent to gay
rights issues along with other typical ‘left’ leaning issues such as
environmentalism and socialized healthcare. There are plenty of people within
‘altfurry’ as well as ‘Furry raiders’ that openly embrace many of these so-called
‘liberal’ issues and support civil liberties
and open tolerance as there is always room for overlap. Radicals on both sides rarely
choose to see individuals as mosaics beholding to a complex web of moderate
views, but rather, wish to project their own image of the opposition to the
extremes delineating in stark contrasts. They do not wish to see the nuanced views we
support that give us agency, partly out of laziness, but also out of political
expediency: It’s easier to justify punching someone when they are a “Nazi”

Nazi’s, in my fandom? It’s more likely than you think!

Yes, there is a very small minority of furries that dress up
in ‘fascist’ attire, the majority of whom do so to fulfill a sexual fetish
power trip. Others usually commission furry art of their characters adorned in
Nazi outfits to lambast their critics because they want the truth vested in
irony and there is no better way to do it than by creating an elaborate charade.
How is this any different than Mel Brooks prancing around in Springtime for
Hitler or Sarah Silverman dressing up as Nazi caricature? The objective is to
embrace the absurdity, because it can’t be taken seriously. It’s not supposed
to be.

I voted for, and continue to support “Orange Hitler” therefore
I am a ‘fascist’ no matter which stance I take or argument I posit. The ensuing
backlash which often occurs with extreme liberal leftists in the furry
community has become something of a Monty Python skit gone horribly wrong: a parody
that can only be met with a heavy dose of irony followed by no shortage of
apathy when the contact cord is finally cut. Nine times out of ten, a person
with a diametrically opposing sociopolitical outlook will just block any and
all interaction out of ignorance which I suspect is largely due to their inability
to formulate a viable counterpoint. Personally, I see this as a concession and
a victory in-itself over their purported ideologies that they claim to hold so
dear, showing that the much lauded ‘tolerant’ leftist is quite a rare animal indeed. There is simply no point in arguing the
matter when there are people clinging so unwittingly to an obtuse mentality
that they cannot tolerate a differing perspective, but there is much to be said
about staying true to one’s own convictions and a great deal of merit to be
gained by taking a stand in the values one cherishes and wishes to see
proliferate in their country against all opposition.

I am a strong civic nationalist and I believe in the idealism that America is a nation for every race, creed, and orientation; that being
said, I shouldn’t have to virtue signal in order to prove that my egalitarian
intentions are inclusive and accepting of anyone who wishes to partake in the
furry fandom. Because you can’t just be a ‘good person’ and have voted for
Trump. No, they have no other recourse
but to vilify you and then block. There may be no reconciliation in differences
of opinion with these extremists, but they are quickly finding out that the furry
fandom is not theirs to control.
While “Deo” enjoys 15 minutes of furry-fame before inevitably fading into obscurity, the
more extreme leftists within the fandom will rally around the “REEEEEEEEEEs” of
this injured varmint crying foul and feigning oppression while the alt-furs
have a good laugh about it and continue to mine the salt for all its worth. Alt-furry
have been disparaged and attacked for simply existing, because our very presence
is a threat to those who desire further censorship when we exercise our freedom
of expression. The old idiom of “The fascists
of the future will call themselves anti-fascists” has proven incredibly
accurate.Let me also point out that
Fascism is a left wing ideology (National socialists). Deo has thus far proven
to be a useful idiot for the far-left furry cadre that will no doubt flaunt their
collective self-victimization as a calling card for more sympathy while throwing
a conniption fit to the press with so much ire and gnashing of teeth. It’s
important that we reserve some degree of pity for many ‘Antifa-fur’s as many of
them have come from broken homes with no nuclear family or traditional father
figure to steer them right, else they wouldn’t be so morally bankrupt and
misguided as to engage in cultural Marxism and resort to Anarcho-communism as
an outlet to form their worldview. They will continue to find themselves further
and further marginalized in a fandom that has grown far larger and more diverse
than they could ever hope to control and those who take it upon themselves to
act upon their violent urges will wind up permanently banned from future
convention spaces. Their cries of Nazi’s!
have thus far attracted the attention of the press, but this melodrama will
backfire after wearing thin and falling flat. The moment they have exhausted
their tantrum and resort to violence, their being tolerated by the greater
berth of the furry community will begin to evaporate. In regards to
self-proclaimed ‘Antifa furs’ and SJW’s participating in the furry fandom,
there is no central ‘leadership’ as it is a very nebulous clique rooted in
degenerate communism and far left socialism. Theirs is little more than another
ill-fated power-grab in an attempt to ‘gate keep’ the fandom by their efforts
to oust ‘undesirables’ and to prevent
others from displaying their colorful armbands. It’s an attack on the freedom
of self-expression which is enshrined in the constitution. I stand with Foxler
and his right to express himself as he sees fit. I stand with the confederate
flag Fursuiter who was banned for two years at MFF 2015 for emblazoning a symbol on the back of his fursuit which
is a crucial and integral part of American history that can be found on the
Mississippi state flag.

A legitimate concern that affects everyone involved is how
these SJW extremists and Antifa fur’s may continue to maneuver themselves into
positions of power such as convention staff in order to abuse their authority
and begin chartering policies that prohibit freedom of expression and enact bias
against right wing members of the furry fandom. This has already happened in small part,
particularly at MFF (Midwest Furfest). The latest development that has taken shape
after RMFC cratered is that Deo is promoting “Mile High Furcon”as an alternative to RMFC where they are
looking for staff members who are not “bigoted or share hate speech.” which is
code word for sheltering a safe-space that enforces a rigid authoritarian
leftist agenda. Altfurry is not so much focused on creating a ‘safe space’ for
right-leaning furs, but rather helping form a support channel through which they are
encouraged to participate in the community and let their voices be heard. The
altfurry now heralds a call for acceptance without demands to oust leftist opposition
from the community as we are confident that they will surely do that to
themselves.

Conclusions

The furry fandom has grown into a world-wide social circle where
we are free to find out who we truly are through boundless creativity and
inspiration in one another; a venue by which we express ourselves and have fun
in doing so. Perhaps what I find most distressing about this situation is how
much attention the RMFC fiasco has garnered when in comparison to the most
severe issues that rocked the furry fandom. Where was the outrage when five
prominent men in the furry community were convicted of raping an underage boy?

…and it was swept under the rug and conveniently ignored in
large part. There is a tremendous disconnect occurring in this community
when it comes to focusing on which issues should be a priority that could keep its
most vulnerable members safe. The latent corruption within this fandom has not been receiving nearly
as much attention as when the imaginary boogeymen of Furry Raiders and
Alt-Furrys were thrown into the spotlight as a distraction, lost amidst cries of
“Literal NAZI’s taking over the fandom!” which rang out in false alarm. In
regards to the molestation case in PA, there were many statements on message
boards expressing sentiments of “Oh it shouldn’t matter that they were furry!”
and “This could happen in any community!” while true, these sentiments said
nothing about what steps were being taken to prevent this behavior and any
attempt at examination to root out this kind of depravity by banning
individuals with a similar record of child abuse from attending conventions was not
considered. This lapse in judgment constitutes a grave danger in our community.
Each individual snowflake will never see fit to take responsibility for the
avalanche when it comes crashing down.

While 501(c) non-profit organizations are well within their
legal right to permit or deny whomever they choose to attend a convention space
while in operation, any attempt by board members of existing conventions that
begin enforcing Antifa and SJW tactics by banning or intimidating attendees based
on their social and political views will certainly result in a fractured fandom
and find their conventions run into the ground in a similar fashion to RMFC,
Rainfurrest and Oklacon. Any convention taking this approach will be akin to the
community putting a choke hold on its own growth that will result in a long term
deterioration which the fandom hasn’t truly experienced yet. If this does occur,
defamation lawsuits will be filed and it will only be a matter of time until someone
is crossed to the point where they have the convention investigated for tax
evasion or have them sued for libel. This is a community that has been growing on
a steady incline since the late 70’s yet may be in for a shock if it does
indeed fracture into separate fandoms or stop growing altogether which wouldn’t
be a good thing for anyone. This is a grassroots fandom that was built on self-discovery
and unity, but that unity is predicated upon acceptance and requires open minds
that are inclusive and tolerant of people who have differing points of view.
This includes Trump supporters, right-wing conservatives, nationalists and
Libertarians.

Furries come from all walks of life and have many different
perspectives, something which many grown adults have yet to learn how to
accomplish. After a numbing series of defeats, the far left is still in the
midst of a massive tantrum. They have become a desperate group of people striving
to enlarge the influence of their echo chambers under the guise of ‘safe
spaces’ within the ranks of our community because they have stuck their heads
so far up their asses that they demand everyone group-think identically as they
do. God Forbid if anyone else maintains
a differing point of view from theirs, thinks for themselves, or does not
adhere to their fanatical leftist value system else they are truly a dyed in the wool Nazi and worthy of
being punched. Despite all the current hysteria going around I’ve no doubt that
once this drama tapers off the greater furry community will do some soul
searching and come to find that the #altfurry are fellow members of this
fandom, no better or worse than they are, but eager to temper liberal extremism
regardless of whether or not everyone may agree with our methods. We continue
to accomplish a great deal of progress by upholding freedom of speech and
expression in this fandom. The vitriol coming from many Antifa (which are a
domestic terror group) and their ilk threatening to begin ‘Punching Nazi’s’
will be confronted directly, reported to authorities and exposed as a small group of
cornered animals posturing out of weakness as more and more people will come to
find out that their bark is worse than their bite.